LEICESTER  All Jeffrey Eller wants is a handshake  and the return of a $50 planter someone stole from outside his Route 9 restaurant at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

"Everybody makes a mistake," he said. "Bring it back, come in, shake my hand and we'll have a coffee and talk about it. I'm an old-school conservative; a handshake means a lot to me."

A surveillance video from Eller's Restaurant shows a man in a dark BMW pull up to the front door. He got out, walked to the planter  one of two placed on either side of the doors and adorned with American flags  and stuffed it into the back seat of the sedan.

On Saturday, Mr. Eller posted on the restaurant's Facebook page that he was looking for information and urging the thief to bring back the planter.

"So, if anyone knows the guy in the black four-door sedan that nicely stole our planter from the front of the restaurant this morning at 5:50, please ask him to put it back by tomorrow morning or I will post the video of him tomorrow at 2 p.m," he wrote on Saturday.

On Sunday, several still photos were posted at 2 p.m. The pictures were shared almost 600 times by Sunday night and there were more than 200 comments between the two postings.

That stunned Mr. Eller, who said he knew he had a lot of supporters but this incident really drove home the point.

"I'm blessed," he said. "My wife and I, we try to give back to the town."

Responses to the posting varied from suggestions about how to catch the perpetrator  whose car appears to be devoid of license plates  to some humorous remarks about the suspect.

"It doesn't look like he was lifting with his legs. I hope he hurt his back," one man wrote.

Mr. Eller said the restaurant is closed Monday, and he's wondering if the planter will be back on Tuesday but he's doubtful.

He shared the images with police. However, he said he is doubtful he'll get back the planter or the two flags, which he said are most important to him.

Still, he thinks the $50 he spent on the planter might have been the best money he's laid down.